Boom Goes The Cannon
by Miss Marigold K
Summary: James loves Zandar, but is sure that Zandar will never see him the same way. That all changes, one fateful day... This Fic takes place six years after current events in the show. James/Zandar, Oneshot


"See you later, Sofia! You too, James!" Hugo shouted.

"Goodbye, Hugo!" Sofia shouted back.

"Later, Hugo!" James yelled, adding to Sofia's goodbye.

They had finally finished Derby practice. It had been utterly exhausting, and there were times where it seemed as if it would never end, but it was finally over. James wanted to be excited. He wanted to be excited, being able to finally go back home and tell his parents about everything that had happened that day, but the truth of the matter was... not a lot had happened. Derby practice went alright, the classes he attended were, well, classes, and overall it just hadn't been a very noteworthy school day for James. "Well, except for the fact that-"

"So, did you have fun today?" Sofia inquired. Unknowingly interrupting James' thoughts.

"Huh? What?" James reacted, suddenly.

Immediately noticing that something was up, Sofia grew concerned and asked, "... Are you all right, James?"

James took a moment to realize his name had been said, and, remembering where he was and who he was with, explained, "I'm sorry, Sofia. It's just... something's been bothering me all day and I just haven't been able to stay focused because of it."

"Really? What is it?" Sofia asked. Over the years, their classes had grown farther apart, and, as a result, Sofia wasn't always one-hundred-percent aware of what was going on in James' school life. It wasn't that big a deal, but it still worried her.

"Well... I... Nevermind. I don't wanna talk about it." James decided, abruptly.

"James, it's okay. You can tell me anything." Sofia assured her brother.

"Look, I just... Sofia, please try to understand: I really don't want to talk about it... I'm sorry." James apologized.**_  
_**

Sofia took a moment, then nodded. "Can you at least tell me if you'll be okay?" She asked.

James hesitated before making his reply. He knew if he told her he was going to be all right that it would be a complete and utter lie... but he did so anyway. "I'll be fine." James lied, plastering an impossibly fake smile in an astonishingly terrible attempt to convince her.

Sofia didn't buy it for a minute, but, with how he refused to elaborate on what had apparently been bothering him all day, she figured it would be wise to just drop the subject for right then.

James tried. He really tried to not let his emotions get the better of him, but it only got harder to do just that with each year he struggled through the endless wave of confusion and frustration known as The Worst Thing To Ever Happen To You While You're Young... but also known as Puberty. His recurring brattiness and immaturity aside, it seemed as if everything was better, back when he was young... well, young_er._ He _was_ only fifteen, he couldn't look back on when he was 'young' yet, at least, not without a pinch of irony.

"... Yeah, Sofia doesn't need to worry about me right now. Maybe I can have her leave me for now and, in the meantime, I can collect myself..." James thought to himself, before deciding to go through with it. "Sofia?" He said aloud, calling for her attention, "Why don't you go on ahead to the carriage. I'll go at my own pace." He suggested. Sofia was a kind soul, he thought. She would understand.

"Are you sure?" Sofia asked. Not out of doubt of her brother's sureness, but of a healthy fear for her brother's well-being.

"Yeah I'm sure. Now go." James ordered.

Sofia gave her brother a concerned look. Getting told to leave him behind was worrying, and not just because it came right after he revealed that something was bothering him to the point where he couldn't stop thinking about it... but that was admittedly, a large part of it. Point being that, at that moment, she wasn't quite ready to leave him yet.

Noticing her concerned look, James sighed, and assured the princess, "Sofia, I promise: I'll be fine. I just... I need some alone time."

Sofia was still skeptical, but, after a reassuring nod from the Prince, she tried to discard her worries and went ahead. Leaving James behind to go at his own pace.

With Sofia gone, James gave himself some time to think. Mainly about what had been bothering him all day.

The fact that, through the whole day, he never saw Zandar.

He certainly knew he was there, as he asked a few people earlier that day if he was, and, to his shock, he was definitely there... just not attending any classes. "... I've got to talk to him about that sometime." James thought concernedly to himself. From what he'd gathered from word of mouth, Zandar looked nervous, which worried James, during this otherwise uneventful school day. "What if something happened? What if someone did something to him?... What if I did something to him?" He grew more worried by the minute. But, of course, the idea that Zandar was even at the school was still only going by someone's highly questionable recollection of who they thought might've been Zandar. Their uncertainty helped ease some of James' worries somewhat, but even then that only led to new worries creeping their way into James' now-paranoid mind. "What if he didn't come at all? Why would he not come? Did something happen?" He was mentally running around in circles, as he had been all day, but he just couldn't help it. He couldn't help but worry for Zandar's well-being, Zandar meant the world to him. He... loved Zandar.

Somehow, even after accepting how he felt about him, it still felt awkward to admit. But the truth was that James had been in-love with Zandar for a long, long time. Perhaps it was because of how long they'd been friends and, consequently, how well they knew each other. It could even have been purely because of Zandar's looks, but James liked to think he wasn't that shallow. Whatever the reason was, he knew he loved Zandar, and that was that. Zandar wasn't quite the perfect person for James to fall in-love with, but whoever was perfect certainly wasn't anyone James was interested in, as he only had eyes for Zandar... which meant his eyes had very little to look at, since Zandar was nowhere to be seen, all day. "Even so, maybe... maybe it's better this way." James thought to himself. Sure, he would've loved to see Zandar, but then he'd have to go through the same motions he went through every time he saw Zandar, since he turned eleven. Don't stare for too long, don't say anything weird, don't let him catch him looking into those beautiful green eyes of his, and especially don't do anything that would make him suspect that he was so deeply in-love with him that he would literally-

***Clutch***

Suddenly, James was taken out of his thoughts, as he felt a hand grip his shoulder from behind. He didn't flinch, though. He felt like he knew the hand, somehow. Like he could trust the hand. Unbeknownst to James, the hand that had grabbed hold of his shoulder belonged to his best friend of ten years, and who he'd been thinking about for the last ten minutes, Zandar.

"Hey, James... it's me. Zandar." Zandar awkwardly said.

James turned around to face his friend.

Immediately, he was reminded of how tall his friend had gotten. "Six glorious feet of Zandar..." James sighed. Although he didn't have a lot of weight to fill in that height, it only gave him a nice, slender frame. Which was not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. At least, not to James. He did have fairly noticeable muscles—as you could clearly tell by looking through the see-through sleeves that were connected to the already revealing vest—and some relatively broad shoulders, which were very pleasing to the eye as well. Then there were his eyes, positioned perfectly on his already enchanting face. They were the perfect shade of green—Peridot, to be perfectly exact—and the very special kind of eyes that you could easily just get lost in.

Then there was Zandar's hair.

He had apparently left his turban back home, as his dark, long, flowing hair was on full display. It was long, but not too long. Not too neat, nor too messy. Just... perfect. It looked as if a gentle breeze was constantly hitting it perfectly, though, James knew that wasn't possible, given there couldn't be a breeze while they were inside. "Maybe I'm just imagining things... I probably am... it sure looks like there's a breeze hitting it, though..." James thought to himself, in a trance-like state.

"James?" Zandar said, very puzzled by his friend's lack of activity.

"Huh? Oh, uh... Hey, Zandar." James said, trying to play it cool in front of his best friend, "What made you just grapple my shoulder like that? I mean, you could've just said hello." He asked. Pretending he wasn't just mildly amused by his friend surprising him, in an attempt to take Zandar's mind off of him staring at him. That is, if Zandar had noticed in the first place, but he was assuming that already, just incase.

"Well, uh... I didn't know what to say to get your attention, so I sorta just did that, and... yeah, I guess a simple 'Hello' would've worked better... Sorry..." Zandar apologized.

There it was, James thought to himself. Right there was why he'd fallen in love with Zandar. Sure, his looks had all of Royal Prep lusting for him, but nobody else he ever met—aside from family—was as loyal to James as Zandar was. Nobody else took him at his word like Zandar did. Nobody else trusted him like Zandar did, and Zandar didn't trust anyone else as much as he did James. Of course, trust naturally came with being friends for as long as James and Zandar had, but their trust felt special, somehow.

There were, needless to say, other reasons for why he loved Zandar—because you obviously don't just fall in love with someone because of one thing about them, that would be crazy—but his trust in him was the biggest, in James' opinion. Of course, one drawback to being so trusting of someone is that sometimes that trust would be misplaced, and that misplaced trust may lead to someone feeling bad for no reason, and that was the last thing James wanted for Zandar. "... Zandar, I-I was just messing with you, man. It's... it's fine." James explained, stammeringly.

"Oh, okay!" Zandar smiled in relief that he didn't do anything to upset James.

James didn't really mean to make Zandar feel bad about it. All he wanted was to distract him from the fact that he was totally checking him out. Hoping that he wouldn't use that information to figure out exactly how much he meant to him. Naturally, he wasn't gonna let Zandar know how he felt about him, because that would make him think he's weird, and that would ruin their friendship, and that was what he'd tell himself every time he felt the urge to just pour his heart out to Zandar. That, and remind himself that there were much more important matters he would have to devote his time to than wondering if he should tell his best friend he loved him more than anyone else he'd ever met in all his life. He figured he was done with that for the day, after Derby practice, until Zandar surprised him. "Why did Zandar have to show up!... After Derby practice..." It then occurred to James that Zandar wasn't usually out this late, which raised many questions in his head. Questions he would've felt compelled to ask, had Zandar not taken him out of his thoughts and back to the reality before he could do so. Saying,

"Um... James?" Once again, Zandar was very puzzled by his friend's lack of activity.

"What? Oh! Ugh, sorry, man. I keep losing concentration, what's wrong with me." James chatised himself.

"Hey, don't be like that, James... It's fine." Zandar consoled James.

"I know, I know. It's just... I'm just frustrated with myself. I'm not usually like this." James stated. Very upset with himself over how foolishly he was acting around Zandar.

"Well I already knew that, best friend of... my goodness, how long has it been since we first met?" Zandar asked, in an honest attempt to lighten James' mood, but, upon seeing James' pouty expression, Zandar sighed, and said, "James, really. It's nothing to stress over."

"But it is! I mean, I might have to devote my full attention to something in the future, I might even become the King of Enchancia and a royal matter may require my full attention and then y-" James started, stopping short of mentioning the true cause of his lack of focus. "... Then... something like this happens, and I fail my Kingdom... What then, Zandar?"

"James, I know you. That wouldn't happen. No matter what the situation is, you always pull through in the end when it's important..." Zandar stated, before adding, "... And, if you do eventually become the King of Enchancia, I'm sure you'll be the best there ever was."

"... Even better than Dad?" James gasped.

"Are you kidding? You'll be, like, ten times better than him." Zandar replied, confidently.

James eyes widened as he heard what his friend was saying. "You... you really believe all that?" He asked.

"Every word." Zandar smiled, his radiant green eyes meeting James'.

"... Thanks, Zandar. You're the best." James said.

"Well, I'm only telling you my honest opinion. There's no need to thank me for doing something as simple as that." Zandar smiled, blushingly. "So, um... if I may, what's been on your mind all this time?" Zandar asked.

"Oh, I was... I was thinking: You're not usually here after Derby practice. What's up?"

"Oh, that? Well, uh... I just wanted to, uh..." Zandar stammered, pushing his index fingers together, "... Um... Well, I just wanted to tell you the truth, James. I've been meaning to tell you something all day. Longer than that, even, but I decided that today was the day I was finally going to tell you... which is why you probably haven't seen me all day." Zandar admitted, embarrassed, before explaining, "I've just been trying to figure out how to say it."

"So now you've finally figured out how to say it?" James asked.

"Not really, actually. I... kinda just gave up. I'm winging it instead." Zandar answered.

"Ah, I see." James laughed.

"So I'd like to tell you now." Zandar ended, "... I-I mean, if that's okay with you, of course!" He added, urgently.

"Well, if telling me this was really important enough to you that it made you stay out here longer than you had to, I'd be more than happy to hear it." James replied, smiling.

"Alright, cool..." Zandar said. Scratching the back of his head bashfully. "So... we've been friends for awhile now, right?" Zandar asked.

"Right...?" James answered, curiously.

"W-well, uh..." Zandar stuttered, "I... I'm not good at this. What I'm trying to say is..." It was then that Zandar paused, grabbed James by the lapels, and kissed him full on the lips. Only breaking the lip-connection off once he started running out of air. "... Um... that." He said, in-between breaths, in hopes that the kiss itself would properly convey what he had wanted to tell James for years.

James blushed intensely at this... unexpected turn of events. He was, admittedly, suspicious of Zandar's nervousness when asked about why he was there, but he wasn't expecting him to say he felt that way about him. After **kissing** him, no less. That was his first kiss, in fact. The thought of it being Zandar's first as well, as well as several other thoughts brought on by Zandar's kiss, circled in his mind faster than he could process them, but they were all eclipsed by one prevailing thought: Zandar loved him! Zandar actually loved him, like he did Zandar! Nothing could possibly have brought James down at that moment, he was on cloud nine. That wasn't immediately apparent just by looking at him, though, as Zandar got worried and asked,

"Oh my gosh, did I just make this awkward?"

James blinked for a moment, processing the question he had just been asked, before saying, "No! No, I-I like you too, Zandar!" Stuttering, as he had never thought he would ever say it out loud.

"Really?" Zandar asked, just to be sure.

"Yes! I mean, I've liked you for years now!" James revealed.

"Oh my goodness, then it's perfect!" Zandar exclaimed. "... So then you were checking me out earlier?" He asked.

"Well... yes. I was kinda hoping you didn't notice that." James admitted.

"Hah, it's alright." Zandar said, before erupting into laughter.

"What's up?" James asked. Curious of what caused this sudden burst of laughter.

"Nothing, it's just... I literally just remembered... 'Six glorious feet of Zandar!'" Zandar finished saying, before devolving into more laughter.

"I said that out loud!? This is so embarrassing, I'm so-" James started, but was then cut off before he could finish.

"No! It's fine! It's perfectly fine! I love you!" Zandar managed to say, in-between laughs. Adding an 'I love you' for no reason. It didn't matter to either of them. Nothing mattered. Everything was perfect.

Eventually, James joined in on the laughter, and they both laughed until their sides hurt. As he was laughing, James reached for Zandar, as he felt that his laughter was so uncontrolled, so powerful, that he needed support before he inevitably fell to the floor. It evolved into a deep hug, which could have lasted for centuries and still wouldn't have lasted long enough. Eventually, the laughter died down, but they maintained the hug. James seized the opportunity and whispered into Zandar's ear, "I love you too."

_"Ooh,_ I got chills down my spine for that." Zandar shivered, knees getting slightly weaker.

"Want me to whisper some more?" James asked, alluringly.

"No thanks, James. Let's just... sit down..." He said, dreamily.

As they sat down, they both took the moment in. They'd both been in-love with each other for years and neither of them had known about the other until this fateful day. It was a pleasant surprise for the both of them, to say the least, and they were both very glad that things had worked out the way they did.

"So, Zandar..." James started, getting Zandar's attention for the question he was about to ask, "... D'you wanna try having another kiss, but this time with me ready?" He asked.

"Hmm... Yeah, I think that would be nice. Let's do that." Zandar smiled.

James looked into Zandar's majestic green eyes one last time, before they both closed their eyes and engaged in a passionate, intense kiss. James' tongue hungrily explored Zandar's mouth, battling Zandar's tongue in the process. This wasn't just a kiss, it was years of longing, years of lusting all being let out at once as they made out. It was so heated, that James almost didn't notice when he partially opened his eyes for a moment and saw Sofia off the corner of his eye.

"... Wait, Sofia!?" James reacted, breaking out of what had basically evolved into a make-out session to see for sure—regrettably leaving a now very pouty Zandar cold—and, sure enough, there she was. A very deep blush had taken over most of her face, and her hands were both held over her mouth, possibly in an attempt to not make a sound and, in doing so, put an end to what was transpiring before her very eyes.

"Uh... I, uh... I was just coming to check on you to see what was making you take so long..." Sofia explained, "... I guess I know now." She giggled.

"... I'm sorry, Sofia, I, um..." James started, pausing to take a quick look back at Zandar, who was looking as dreamy as ever, "... lost track of time. I'll be right with you." James promised, before turning toward his new lover, and saying, "I... think we're gonna have to say goodbye now. Wanna go to my place later so we can... 'talk' more about this?" James offered.

"Nothing would make me happier." Zandar said, accepting the offer. "I'll be over as soon as possible." He promised.

"Goodbye, Zandar." James smiled.

"Goodbye, James." Zandar smiled back.

They shared one last kiss, and then, regrettably, parted ways. It wasn't as painful as it could've been, since they both knew that that wasn't the last time they would see each other for the night.

Meanwhile, Sofia was happy that her brother had found someone. Of course, she was a little disappointed that James got to Zandar before she did, but she was sure she wasn't going to be the only person at Royal Prep thinking that, so she at least wouldn't be suffering alone. Suddenly, remembering how James was feeling the last time she was with him, Sofia asked,

"So, are you feeling any better now?"

"Oh you have no idea." James answered. A very wide, very embarrassing smile spread across his face. He couldn't help it, he felt like he was walking on air.

"Y'know, James? You actually seem more relaxed, compared to when I last saw you." Sofia noted.

"Ah, really? Well, I guess Zandar just brings that out of me." James admitted.

"I'm sorry I interrupted you two, by the way." Sofia apologized.

"It's all right." James smiled. Though, if he was honest with himself, he was a little sorry she interrupted them too.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Well that was fluffy.

Okay, so, writing "Lamentations, Trials, and Tribulations" is getting pretty tiring, and, frankly, kinda depressing. Don't get me wrong, there're some lighthearted moments, and I'm going to continue it until the story is done, but, with all the parallels with my own life (one that is, admittedly, looking up, as of late), and how long this chapter's been taking, I think I need a good 'ole one-shot to raise my spirits. "I'm not quitting" is basically what I'm trying to say here.

I've been meaning to write the first proper James/Zandar (or, Jamdar, which is what I'm going to start calling it from now on) Fic anyway—since I don't count "Lamentations, Trials, and Tribulations" as one—so I think it all works out fine! :D

Also, I have aged them up, as an older review of Lamentations suggested. Hope that makes this ship easier to swallow for some of you. XD

One thing I find particularly noteworthy about this Fic: It's the first time I've ever written a full-on lip-lock. Yup, so the first couple I've written sharing a kiss (also, first couple I've written having a make-out session!) is James and Zandar. I feel like I've hit a milestone in writing. Yay.

Lastly, any and all reviews, follows (even though it's a one-shot—people do that, apparently) and favorites are appreciated. :) Thanks for reading my silly story! XD

**Update:** And now it's got a cover art! It was drawn by Master DuWaul, who... still isn't taking requests. Sorry. :( Anyway, I like it, and I think it makes the Fic more complete. That's probably just me, though. XD


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